NEWS

Collection of rare Russian materials, possibly at more than 20,000 items, now at UNC

By CHRYS BULLARD
UNC Office of University Development

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s University Library has acquired one of the world’s largest collections of rare Russian books, serials, manuscripts and photographs, assembled over 30 years by a Paris bookseller and his wife.

A gift from Van and Kay Weatherspoon of Charlotte enabled the library to purchase the personal collection of the late Paris book dealer Andre Savine and his wife, Svetlana, and the inventory of their bookstore, Le Bibliophile Russe. The Savine Collection, which is still being cataloged, is estimated at more than 20,000 items.

Its presence at UNC positions the university as one of the world’s top sites for research in the field of 20^th-century Russian emigration, university officials said.

"Anyone with a UNC degree has the obligation to do what he or she can do in order to maintain and hopefully improve the competitive position of the university," Van Weatherspoon said of the purchase. "We didn't want to see the university pass up this wonderful opportunity."

Born in Paris, Andre Savine was the son of a White Army soldier who left Russia during the first wave of emigration following the Bolshevik Revolution and the Russian civil war. Two other waves of emigration – one after World War II and a third in the late 1960s – ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. During this period, thousands of writers, philosophers, scholars and political figures whose ideas were not deemed acceptable to the Soviets settled outside of Russia, where they continued to write and publish in Russian. Their works complete the picture of Russian intellectual life in the 20^th century.

The Savine Collection consists of sub-collections documenting the lives of Russian exiles. The first sub-collection, "Militaria," contains hand-written and illustrated journals, memoirs and documents of Russian White Army regiments exiled to the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. Also included are orders, photographs and archival materials of White Army commander-in-chief Gen. Vrangel, as well as journals published by émigré veterans associations documenting the lives of Russian soldiers and officers.

In the second sub-collection, more than 10,000 books feature poetry, fiction, history, memoirs, philosophy, religious studies, politics and children’s literature. First editions are autographed by authors including Nabokov, Chaliapin, Tsvetaeva, Berberova and Yusupov. Also included is the unpublished 10-volume diary of N.V. Savich, a long-term member of the Russian Duma, or parliament.

A third sub-collection features archives, including memorabilia from Russian émigré publishing houses and materials from the Union of Russian Taxi Drivers in Paris, the Paris Union of Russian Nurses and the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Savine Collection enriches Carolina’s already sizable holdings from the third wave of Russian emigration, university officials said. "This purchase encompasses the entire span of 20^th-century Russian emigration," said Nadia Zilper, Slavic and East European resources bibliographer at Carolina and curator of the Savine Collection. "Material from the earliest period is scattered around the world in bits and pieces.

"The value of the Savine Collection lies in the assembling of so many items in one library. Moreover, it contains a significant number of monographic and serial titles not held by any institution in the world – particularly full runs of serials. It puts the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a whole new level as a resource to students and researchers."

Materials from the Savine Collection will be available for research once cataloguing is finished, a task estimated for completion in 2006.

The Weatherspoons’ gift counts toward the Carolina First campaign goal of $1.8 billion. Carolina First is a comprehensive, multi-year private fund-raising campaign to support Carolina’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading public university.

- 30 -

• http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/obj/savine_collection1.jpg. CAPTION: Paris book dealer Andre Savine, who died in 1999, amassed one of the world's largest collections of manuscripts, photos and other items produced by Russian émigré. A gift from Van and Kay Weatherspoon of Charlotte enabled Carolina's Academic Affairs library to purchase the collection of more than20,000 items. 
  
  
• http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/obj/savine_collection2.jpg. CAPTION: Alumni and cadets in the military school named after Grand Duke Konstantin published this handwritten journal during their exile in Gallipoli. The only known copy is housed in Carolina's Savine Collection. 
  
  
• http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/obj/savine_collection3.jpg CAPTION: Russians in Gallipoli 1920-1921, published in Berlin in 1923, is a collection of articles by army personnel about every aspect of life in Gallipoli. The Savine Collection's extremely rare first edition is autographed by Gen. Vrangel, chief commander of the Russian army in exile.

Note: Contact Zilper at (919) 962-3740 or nadia@email.unc.edu.University Library contact: Michele Fletcher, (919) 962-3437 or michele_fletcher@unc.edu